I always notice whenever I buy something online all the adds I see for the next for days are of the same genre of product I just bought. I mean sure I get a nice warm-fuzzy feeling knowing that Big Brother is watching out for me and trying to provide me with the things I want but it sure as hell never gets me to spend more money on the product I've already bought. I've often wondered what is the purpose of gathering so much information. So you know everything about everyone and everyone's activities in your society. What are you actually going to do with that information?

DubtodaIll:I always notice whenever I buy something online all the adds I see for the next for days are of the same genre of product I just bought. I mean sure I get a nice warm-fuzzy feeling knowing that Big Brother is watching out for me and trying to provide me with the things I want but it sure as hell never gets me to spend more money on the product I've already bought. I've often wondered what is the purpose of gathering so much information. So you know everything about everyone and everyone's activities in your society. What are you actually going to do with that information?

Sell it to gullible "social media" salespeople who buy the ads. Most of the time I'm not too bothered by it. At least when I see the ads on a blog or site I read I feel like I'm helping the admin out a bit.

DubtodaIll:I always notice whenever I buy something online all the adds I see for the next for days are of the same genre of product I just bought. I mean sure I get a nice warm-fuzzy feeling knowing that Big Brother is watching out for me and trying to provide me with the things I want but it sure as hell never gets me to spend more money on the product I've already bought. I've often wondered what is the purpose of gathering so much information. So you know everything about everyone and everyone's activities in your society. What are you actually going to do with that information?

Clear your cookies and disable 3rd party cookies and that will dissapear almost immediatly. No one really has that information beyond your opwn PC. Sure, they could do it by ip-adress but that wouldbe more effort than a simple cookie.

DerAppie:DubtodaIll: I always notice whenever I buy something online all the adds I see for the next for days are of the same genre of product I just bought. I mean sure I get a nice warm-fuzzy feeling knowing that Big Brother is watching out for me and trying to provide me with the things I want but it sure as hell never gets me to spend more money on the product I've already bought. I've often wondered what is the purpose of gathering so much information. So you know everything about everyone and everyone's activities in your society. What are you actually going to do with that information?

Clear your cookies and disable 3rd party cookies and that will dissapear almost immediatly. No one really has that information beyond your opwn PC. Sure, they could do it by ip-adress but that wouldbe more effort than a simple cookie.

Like I said I don't mind it, I just fail to see how the information is actually valuable if I never actually act upon the ads designed around my purchases. Of course I'm that way about all advertising. I guess the idea behind the value is a docile empty-headed populace that only acts on what it sees that day.

I work in the marketing research industry and believe me, this information isn't nearly as accessible or complete as these sorts of articles suggest in their headlines. A lot of times this information is outdated, incorrect or based on unreliable informational sources (like registration cards and sweepstakes forms where people give bogus answers as they fill out the forms). Given how freely people share treasure troves of data about themselves on the internet, I don't think the "big data" brokers are really as shadowy as they seem. Most of the information referenced in the article comes from credit bureaus, which have been doing their thing for decades.

What I do encourage is for people to go to Spokeo.com, look themselves and see how public database information that's freely available can make it very easy for someone to learn intimate details about their lives. (I also encourage opting out of being listed on Spokeo.)

DerAppie:Clear your cookies and disable 3rd party cookies and that will dissapear almost immediatly. No one really has that information beyond your opwn PC. Sure, they could do it by ip-adress but that wouldbe more effort than a simple cookie.

Flash cookies are not affected by clearing your browser cache and they were widespread even back in 2009 as per the link.

Misch:A year and a half to two years ago, marketing companies though I had a kid. Now, they think I'm contemplating preschools.

If you're male, you might want to check to see if they're right. After all, they know that your then-girlfriend bought a home pregnancy test on her debit card, and then paid a bill at an OB/GYN clinic a week later, and then bought pickles and ice cream at 3:00 AM a month after that, all while suddenly refraining from buying coffee and alcohol.

Out of curiosity, why has an enterprising businessperson not come up with a proxy host guaranting privacy? I'd totally pay a few bucks a month to VPN into a host that aggregates my purchases and web browsing history with 100,000 users....

secularsage:I work in the marketing research industry and believe me, this information isn't nearly as accessible or complete as these sorts of articles suggest in their headlines. A lot of times this information is outdated, incorrect or based on unreliable informational sources (like registration cards and sweepstakes forms where people give bogus answers as they fill out the forms).

But you're working on making as expansive and accurate as possible, of course.

generallyso:DerAppie: Clear your cookies and disable 3rd party cookies and that will dissapear almost immediatly. No one really has that information beyond your opwn PC. Sure, they could do it by ip-adress but that wouldbe more effort than a simple cookie.

Flash cookies are not affected by clearing your browser cache and they were widespread even back in 2009 as per the link.

A lot of sites use the regular cookies. Companies like google place the third party cookies in order for their adds to know what they need to display. No cookies, no targeted adds. Clearing them and not allowing third party cookies makes it so that I only see generic adds, and on some sites I stopped getting adds altogether.

While the missus was pregnant we received a metric ton of formula samplers and a heap of $5 coupons from every formula company, even though we never purchased any. Someone (I assume Amazon) tipped them off that a baby was on the way.

Misch:Credit reporting giant Experian has a separate marketing services division, which sells lists of "names of expectant parents and families with newborns"

A year and a half to two years ago, marketing companies though I had a kid. Now, they think I'm contemplating preschools.

Just about every new parent gets the regular diaper samples & coupons in the mail. Including a few who lost their child. Nothing like getting a painful reminder every few months in the form of a bigger diaper.

When I started receiving ads for studio apartments I knew our relationship was over. Or they still thought the former owners live at my house. I never knew how little you have to pay when settling debt with a collection agency.

A year and a half to two years ago, marketing companies though I had a kid. Now, they think I'm contemplating preschools.

Two years after our daughter was born, we started getting all sorts of mail, solicitations, and coupons for newborn stuff. After a while we figured out that the Baby Products Industrial Complex decides that since two years has past since Kid #1 was born, that another kid must be on its way (since parents space their kids about two years apart, I guess?).

cardex:I just turned 30 but have been getting AARP crap and junk for me to choose my Medicare part d plan for the last 5 years I want to figure out how I got on that list and get taken off

Shortly after I turned 50 I joined AARP. I saved enough on hotel room discounts to more than make up for the cost of membership. I let the membership lapse and after nearly 10 years, I still get ads from their insurance companies and offers to rejoin.

DubtodaIll:I always notice whenever I buy something online all the adds I see for the next for days are of the same genre of product I just bought. I mean sure I get a nice warm-fuzzy feeling knowing that Big Brother is watching out for me and trying to provide me with the things I want but it sure as hell never gets me to spend more money on the product I've already bought. I've often wondered what is the purpose of gathering so much information. So you know everything about everyone and everyone's activities in your society. What are you actually going to do with that information?

Aww man I guess I miss all the good stuff by never using my real name on line, never signing up for a "rewards" or "points" card, never answering any surveys and setting my browser to always delete my cache and history when it closes.

DubtodaIll:I always notice whenever I buy something online all the adds I see for the next for days are of the same genre of product I just bought. I mean sure I get a nice warm-fuzzy feeling knowing that Big Brother is watching out for me and trying to provide me with the things I want but it sure as hell never gets me to spend more money on the product I've already bought. I've often wondered what is the purpose of gathering so much information. So you know everything about everyone and everyone's activities in your society. What are you actually going to do with that information?

Slaves2Darkness:Aww man I guess I miss all the good stuff by never using my real name on line, never signing up for a "rewards" or "points" card, never answering any surveys and setting my browser to always delete my cache and history when it closes.

It doesn't really matter if they have your real name, any more than it matters if they have a tagged goose's real name. They still watch behavioral patterns and use applied sociology to manipulate consumer and political behavior based on what they see.

secularsage:What I do encourage is for people to go to Spokeo.com, look themselves and see how public database information that's freely available can make it very easy for someone to learn intimate details about their lives. (I also encourage opting out of being listed on Spokeo.)

Interesting.... it's got every address I've lived at from 1979 to 2009. Then the trail peters out.

I knew camping in the woods for three months would help me lose them! :-)

secularsage:I work in the marketing research industry and believe me, this information isn't nearly as accessible or complete as these sorts of articles suggest in their headlines. A lot of times this information is outdated, incorrect or based on unreliable informational sources (like registration cards and sweepstakes forms where people give bogus answers as they fill out the forms). Given how freely people share treasure troves of data about themselves on the internet, I don't think the "big data" brokers are really as shadowy as they seem. Most of the information referenced in the article comes from credit bureaus, which have been doing their thing for decades.

What I do encourage is for people to go to Spokeo.com, look themselves and see how public database information that's freely available can make it very easy for someone to learn intimate details about their lives. (I also encourage opting out of being listed on Spokeo.)

I opted out of Spokeo and several similar services a couple years ago. Just searched for myself again, and I'm definitely not showing up. The places I do show up - places I didn't opt-out - have wildly inaccurate info about me. Old addresses, my age off by 20+ years, incorrect marital status, incorrect familial relationships. I suppose that's almost as good as not showing up at all. At least it makes me laugh.